Men's Volleyball Loses Tough Battle to Nationally Ranked Pride

SPRINGFIELD, MA - The Elms College Men's Volleyball team ventured to Springfield College to take on the nationally ranked Pride in non-conference action Monday evening.

BASICS

Score: Elms College 0 (13, 16, 18) | No. 6 Springfield College 3 (25, 25, 25)

Records: Blazers 1-4, 0-2 (GNAC) | Pride 5-1, 0-0 (DIII Ind.)

HOW IT HAPPENED

The opening set started with Springfield gaining a quick lead on Elms, but senior Collin Liedke (Newington, CT) would make the Blazers' first kill of the night off a set from graduate student Pedro De Jesus (East Hartford, CT). The Pride would continue to add points to their lead, until Liedke set De Jesus for a kill of his own to help their team begin a three-point birth in the match. Springfield would regain momentum as the set began to near its end, but De Jesus and first-year Nick Uschmann (Agawam, MA) would each make a kill to keep the set alive. However, the Pride would win the set with a 13-25 score.

The following set would start in favor of the Blazers with a 4-3 lead, which included kills from Liedke and first-year Joey Crain (Southwick, MA). The two sides would battle over the lead until Springfield found a five-point birth to maintain their lead over Elms. Similar to the previous set, late kills from De Jesus and Uschmann kept the Blazers alive in the set, but the Pride would hold on with a 16-25 win.

The third and final set would begin with the two teams continuing to trade points with each other, with kills from De Jesus, Uschmann, and Crain would help Elms earn short term leads in the set. Springfield would capitalize on two errors and create a scoring streak for themselves to get within six points of match point, but a kill from Uschmann would give the Blazers one final point before the Pride finished the match with a score of 18-25. 

INSIDE THE NUMBERS

• Liedke would record a team leading 14 assists, nine digs, and two blocks with three kills.

• De Jesus would lead the Blazers with eight kills and a service ace with six digs.

UP NEXT: The Men's Volleyball team travels to Annandale-on-Hudson, NY to take on Bard College and Medgar Evers College on Saturday, February 30th at 11:00AM and 2:00PM.

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